Israel seals West Bank, Gaza after death of two Palestinians
Israel sealed the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Friday after Israeli soldiers shot dead two Palestinians, from the Palestinian Hamas movement.
According to Israel Radio, the two men are brothers Imad and Adel Awadallah and are allegedly members of Hamas military wing. Hamas responded to the killings with a vow to retaliate, saying Israel would "pay a dear price."
The army said the two men were killed in a clash on Thursday with its forces around the West Bank town of Hebron (Al Khalil).
The two bothers, Imad and Adel, who Israel believes to be the top bomb maker and the commander of Hamas' military arm, better known as Izziddin Al Qassam Brigades, were hiding in a remote village near Hebron since Imad, one of the two brothers, escaped from his Palestinian prison in Jericho. Imad was charged by the Palestinian government with killing another Hamas member, Mohyiddin Sharif, who was shot dead and his body burnt in a garage near Ramallah last March.
A few days ago, an Israeli intelligence drone crashed over the area where the two Hamas brothers were hiding. Palestinian security personnel were first to reach the site and allegedly collected the pieces that contained the intelligence data. Israeli officers who arrived after their Palestinian counterparts complained that only parts of the drone skeleton were retrieved and that none of the sensitive parts were found. The implications of these allegations are that Israel already knew of the hiding place of the Awadallah brothers.
The spiritual leader and founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, said at his Gaza house that the Al Qassam Brigades would not hesitate and that their retaliation is forthcoming. Israel clamped a tight closure on the Palestinian territories and instructed soldiers manning roadblocks to check all vehicles driving from the Palestinian territories into Israel.
The incidents happened as U.S. envoy Dennis Ross is on a mission in the area to push forward a land-for-security plan to break an 18-month impasse in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Ross said on Thursday that the two sides had many differences over a proposed Israeli troop withdrawal from another 13 percent of the West Bank in exchange for Palestinian security measures.
Israel has periodically sealed its borders with the West Bank and Gaza. The last closure was enforced during last April's celebration of Israel's 50th anniversary. The closures cause economic damage by disrupting trade and barring Palestinian workers from reaching jobs in Israel, as collective punishment.